A New LifeOld FriendsAND WEIRD PEOPLE
by Linda Ameslan
Summary: Himeno is living in America with just her dad and the Knights found a house right across the street so that they could keep an eye on her. Then they start having problems...
1. A New Beginning

-1"Wake up Hemino! It's your first day of school!"

"Unnnh" groaned a lump under the covers.

Hemino's father had just divorced her step mother and they had just moved to America, just the two of them.

It's true that Hemino missed her family, but even more so the fact that she was no longer the pretear. She loved living with just her dad though, his novels were a big hit.

Hemino had the typical morning rush.

When she was at school, not many people talked to her, but she had jumped bigger hurdles than this, right?

"Hello. My name is Hemino Awayuki and I just moved here from Japan." She told her homeroom teacher. He just stared at her. Blinking his cold fishy eyes.

"Um…Where is my seat?"

"Pick one. I don't care." said a low growly voice.

Just back away slowly, Hemino thought. She bumped into someone. "Oh excuse me, miss."

Hemino stood there shocked. She turned around and blushed a ruby red color.

Hayate was standing there with everyone. Sesame, Gou, Kei, Mannen, Shin, and Hajime were staring at her.

Hayate spoke to her in Japanese. "Don't fall in love with any of these American boys. Understand?"

Hemino rolled her eyes.

Just then a tall blonde boy walked past her. He's kind of cute, Hemino thought.


	2. Something strange

-1Bi-beep. Bi-beep. Bi-beep. Bi-beep. The alarm clock wouldn't shut up. Finally Hemino slammed her fist on it and it was quiet.

She pulled on her kimono, one of the few things she had left from Japan. She crepttothe topof the stairsand peeked around the corner. Her dad was making breakfast , but she didn't see Hayate.

"Maybe I only imagined him. Maybe he wasn't even really re-Ahhhhhhh!" She fell down the stairs. Hayate was standing in front of her. Himeno had the feeling he had pushed her.

"You were saying?" He asked

Oh hi Hayate. I thought maybe the other day at school hadn't been real."

"I've been watching you day and night. Even when you were changing." He didn't even give the slightest sign of embarrassment. In fact he was smiling.

Hemino, on the other hand, was holding her arms across her chest, blushing furiously.

"You weren't watching when I was in the shower, were you?"

"Yep. I saw you from overhead" Wider smile. "You've got a nice chest."

Hemino ran to her room and locked the door. She was so embarrassed.

She quickly got ready for school. Something's not right about Hayate, she thought. Why would he invade my personal privacy like that?

She turned around and ran to the other side of the street across from her house where the knights lived. She knocked and Kei answered.

"Hello Hemino. What's wrong?"

"Did Hayate leave this morning?"

"Uh…Yeah. He said he was going to go get groceries. Why?"

"He came over to my house and told me he'd been invading my privacy. "

"I see. I will try to figure out what is going on with him. You'd better get to school."

Hemino looked at her watch. "Oh damn! I only have five minutes before first bell!"

She took off and once again ran into Hayate. Then she had an idea. She held his hand hoping to be able to pret.

Nothing…


	3. The Truth

-1"You're not Hayate! Who are you and what have you done with him!"

"Actually, I am Hayate. Why are you acting so weird dummy!

"Oops sorry Hayate. Um…Why didn't we pret?"

"Because I didn't want to."

Suddenly another Hayate flew out of the bushes with about five grocery bags.

His eyes opened wide. "Hemino get away from him! He's a shape shifting monster from Leafenia! He was trying to get close to you!"

Suddenly the monster showed his true form. His skin was a bluish-grey. His skin was covered with a bumpy like substance. In all, he was just plain ugly.

Hemino backed away slowly. Toward the Hayate with bags in his hand. "Hayate! Pret with me!"

Hayate preted with her and she became the beautiful wind pretear. Her outfit was blue and white. The top fit her perfectly and she had a blue mini skirt and blue boots.

Hayate, she thought, I'm so glad you weren't invading my privacy.

Why would I do that, he told her, I know you would kick my ass if I'd invaded your privacy.

Hemino and Hayate unpreted. Where the false Hayate had stood there was now a pile of a rubber like substance. When the two had preted, the monster was destroyed.

Hayate flew Hemino to school and gave her a peck on the cheek. She wasn't late, but had to take everything with her until passing period.

She was by her locker when the cute guy stopped by her locker. "Hey you're name is Hemino, right? My name is Derri, short for Derrick."

"Yeah, my name is Hemino." She said coolly.

Suddenly a girl Hemino didn't recognize came up to them. "Derri, sweetheart, we have a date remember?"

Derri walked away from Hemino. "Look, Derrick is mine, and if you try to get near him you will have made the biggest mistake of your life. I know you used to be called 'pretear' in Japan.I overheard the three kids you hang out with talking about it.I'm going to find out what it means."


	4. An Unusual Question

-1Hemino was stunned. "She can't possibly figure out what pretear is. Andrea looks like the kind of girl who would try to get that kind of power no matter what." She murmured

She decided to ask the knights. All of them were planting a garden. Just in case people were eavesdropping, she decided to speak in Japanese.

"Hey what's up guys?"

"Not much" Kei answered. By his tone of voice, you could tell that he was relieved that they were speaking in Japanese.

"I have a question. Could a person become pretear out of pure obsession?" She looked a little worried.

"Why do you ask?"

"There is a girl at school that told me she would find out what pretear meant. She looks like the type that would be able to get that kind of power like that."

"Hmm…I don't really know. All of the pretears we've worked with have been born with that destiny."

The entire while, Andrea had been sneaking around the newly planted bushes. The only word she understood was pretear.

Then she watched as Hemino went across the street and unlocked the door.

"No way! She's my neighbor! Oh this is great!"

She was still spying on Hemino, but it was closer to her house.

She saw Hemino pull on an apron and pull out some weird ingredients.

"Oh my gosh!" Andrea cried "Hemino is a witch!. This will be front page of the school newspaper!"


	5. The First Battle

-1"Mmmmm!" Hemino sighed. She just made soup with Japanese ingredients. It smelled wonderful. And tasted good too.

There was just one thing, as Hemino slurped the soup, she couldn't get over the feeling that she was being watched. It had happened all the time when she was fighting Takako. Of course it was probably because Takako was in one of her human forms and always around her.

She turned toward the window where she heard a lot of laughing and giggling. She saw Andrea, who hadn't been able to get over her glee, and had been unable to control her laughter.

"Andrea!" she screamed "What are you doing spying on me?"

Andrea had a stricken look on her face. "Stay away from me witch!"

"Huh? Witch? What are you talking about you sneak!"

"So you admit to it? I saw you pull out weird stuff from your cabinet. You are a witch! You are! That's what 'preater' means, doesn't it? It means witch!"

"Ugh! AND-RE-AAAAA! The things you saw me pull out were Japanese ingredients for a Japanese soup! They weren't things to mix potions in! Now GET OUT OF MY YARD!"

Andrea slunk away. She was still firm in her belief that Hemino was a witch and the Japanese soup thing was only a cover up. Andrea only pretended to go away. After Hemino left the window, she went back. She saw one of the guys from the house across the street go to Hemino's house.

Hemino answered. She spoke in English this time. "Hey Hayate. What's up?" She asked this worriedly because Hayate was huffing as if he'd sprinted to her house.

"Hemino! There is a demon larva in the park. We have to go!"

Hemino threw down her soup and went with Hayate. Andrea knew where they were heading. There was only one park in town.

Andrea followed Hemino and the guy-Hayate? She thought. That's what it sounded like Hemino had said.

When she got to the park, she saw Hemino, Hayate, three other guys, and three kids. They were all wearing weird clothing. Andrea overheard Hemino say something about "preting with Shin since he was of age" Andrea had her video camera with her and videotaped the whole thing. She saw Hemino grab the littlest boys hand. Then for a few seconds there was a bright light. When that passed, Hemino wasn't in a goofy looking skirt and top. She was in a dress made of leaves.

"Hemino! Do you see the core yet?" asked the blonde guy in a yellow, brown and white outfit.

"No! I can't find it anywhere! I can't even sense it!"

"Oh damn. This is not good!"

"Wait! I sense it now! It's right in the middle of the body, not in the center on the outside, but in the center on the inside. That is so gross!"

Hemino closed her eyes as if in concentration. "Earth vine! Now to strike the core. Vine whip!" Hemino struck dead center in the core. "Phew. Thank goodness."

Shin and Hemino unpreted. Just then is when she caught a glint of sunlight from something. Looking closer, she realized that it was Andrea with a video camera. "Oh no." She whispered.

Andrea knew she had been seen. She walked up to Hemino. "So, I finally got to see the pretear in action. And I got it all on tape." she said "Now the whole school will see who you really are."

"Andrea," Hemino said "I really need that tape." she said firmly.

"Are you kidding? Once the school sees this, they will all want to become pretears. I'm a genius! If we all become pretears, then we all have equal power."

"Andrea, you can't automatically become a pretear. I -and so were all of the other pretears before me- born with that destiny. At first I didn't want it because I was scared, but after the first battle, I was glad to be a part of something. At first, I had no friends, my family completely ignored me and I was unhappy."

"Yeah, right. You're just saying that so I will hand over the tape."

At this point Hemino was getting pretty angry. "Andrea, listen to me. You have no idea what's it's like to be fighting the way I do. One time I lost my power. Another time I lost a friend. And in the final battle, I almost lost my life! I also almost lost my family!"

This is when the knights stepped in. "It's true." said Hayate. "At one point she couldn't pret, yet she only got her powers back because she really wanted to protect us. Then Sesame here quit being a knight because he loved the person we were fighting. In the final battle, she fainted and we all thought she had died. Also in the beginning of the final battle, her step-sister was being held prisoner."

Andrea just put her hand up to her mouth and faked a yawn. She wasn't buying it. Suddenly, the red snow started falling again.

"Oh man! Not again!" Hemino said. She said it as if she was scared, but Andrea was tired of their excuses. "No matter what you say, on Monday, this little baby goes on the announcements." she said holding up the tape. She began to walk away. Hemino had given up.

Mannen jumped out of the bushes and grabbed the tape out of Andrea's hand. "Got it Hemino. Just like Gou told me!"

"Good job, punk." said a redhead. Mannen gave the tape to Gou so he could burn it. Gou set it on the ground and set it on fire. The plastic melted leaving an awful smell.

"Better luck next time Andrea!" Hemino said mockingly. She gave all of the knights a high five.


	6. No One Believes

"What do you mean we have to go to Leafenia?" Mannen screamed. "We haven't seen the red snow in a long time. Why should we start worrying now?"

"Look Mannen," Kei said coolly "We have to go talk to the knights in Leafenia about this. We just started repopulating and you swore to protect any pretear we worked with. Have you forgotten that?"

"Humph! Well I still don't understand why I have to go. You're not making Shin and Hajime" Mannen shouted

"I already told you, Shin wouldn't be able to handle something that boring and no one could babysit." Gou shouted

"Hey guys, why are you all shouting?" Himeno asked

"We have to go to a congress meeting in Leafenia, Hajime is babysitting Shin so they won't be bored to death, buy I have to go with them! It's not fair!" Mannen complained.

"Hayate, why didn't you ask me to babysit? Here in America, they celebrate a day called Labor Day."

"We didn't know, or we would have asked you. We'll take Hajime with us. Are you sure you don't mind Himeno?

"Yeah. It'll give me a chance to practice. Hey! Why don't I go with you and practice near the forest?

"Now there's an idea." Sesame said "Himeno and Shin will be able to see us from there. That way they can get ready to go when they see us leave the building."

They got Shin and Hajime and went to the gorgeous land of Leafenia. The grass was always green and there were always flowers. Unless you went into the forest. Deep in the forest is where Takako had been held while she was evil, and she had sucked all of the Leafe out of the area, so it was a little spooky. Kei, Sesame, Gou, Hayate, Hajime, and Mannen headed toward an official looking building.

Himeno preted with Shin and practiced for a while. She only hit things that looked dead as her targets. She didn't want to kill anything in Leafenia because it was to beautiful. They practiced for about an hour, then found a resting place under a big tree. Himeno had brought food, knowing that Shin became hungry often.

As they were eating their apples, Himeno heard a _huff, huff, huff_ sound. Looking behind her she saw Hajime. "Himeno! The governor doesn't believe us! He says that only the pretear would make him listen! Please come!" he looked kind of desperate

Himeno carried Shin, since he was asleep. When they got inside the building, Himeno handed Shin to Hayate. Then she turned to face the governor.

"Name." He had a brisk voice, but he shouted.

"My name is Himeno Awayuki. I am the pretear"

"Hmm. Miss Awayuki is it true that you saw a demon? And that you saw the red snow?

"Yes" She said firmly.

"I see. Miss Awayuki, could you prove to us that you are the pretear? All you have to do is pret with one of these knights."

Himeno looked around. None of the Knights looked eager to pret with her. "Guys, will someone please pret with me?"

"Himeno," Sesame asked, " can we talk to you over there?"

They all went to a far corner of the room. "Himeno, why are you trying to prove yourself. They think you're a spy, and they think this is a prank. _We _know what we saw." Sesame said.

"I'm sorry. I guess I wanted to prove so bad that I was the pretear I never considered…"

"It's alright." Kei said "No harm done."

"Miss Awayuki, we're waiting. You need to pret with one of these wonderful knights."

Himeno and the knights started to walk out of the building when the oldest of the committee stood. If you weren't in the room, you could tell that he was a very important person by the way he looked. He was very solemn and wore a black suit. He had the air of a person who was very strict.

At this point, Himeno wished she hadn't destroyed the tape that Andrea had made. Oh well, Himeno thought, I don't have to prove anything to them. Kei is right. We know what we saw.

"Miss Awayuki, we're waiting. We need you to pret with one of these wonderful knights so that we know you're not a spy or someone wishing to destroy Leafenia." As he said this, he had an annoying smirk on his face.

Himeno was pretty angry at this point. "I don't need to prove anything to you! I'm tired of playing this game! All my life I've been ignored and treated as if I were an object! Well no more! If you don't believe me, then fine! But I know what I saw!"

Before anything else had been said, Himeno stormed out of the building. "Come on guys. Let's go home. We'll have to deal with this on our own."

The Doorway Of Light opened, leading them back to earth. Himeno suddenly felt weak. As if she had suddenly gotten of a really fast, scary roller coaster. She fell to the ground overpowered by her old sensation of the demon larva. Only this time, it was about ten times stronger.

She collapsed from the sensation. When she awoke, she was on her bed. All the knights looking down on her with worried expressions.

"What happened? Where am I?" and looking at the knights she said "And who are you?"


	7. Himeno Has Amnesia

"What do you mean 'Who are you?' Are you trying to be funny?" Hayate screamed at her. He was shaking her so hard she was getting really dizzy.

"Stop it! You're hurting me!" She grabbed his arms and forced him away.

"You mean, you really don't remember? About being the Prétear or anything?" Shin asked. "Poor Himeno!" He said it in his cute/sad voice. He looked about ready to cry.

"That word-Prétear. It sounds so familiar. I really don't remember anything about it though." she frowned, trying to gather her memories.

"Seriously though, who are you, and who am I? What am I doing here?"

"I wonder what could give Himeno amnesia like that. She didn't fall that hard, and her grass is soft." Sasame said. He'd practically had to pry Hayate away from Himeno. Hayate had been absolutely hysterical when he attacked her the way he did.

"Are you sure you're alright Hayate? You were really going at her. I'm worried about you, as a friend." He certainly didn't need to say that. His face said it.

"Of course he's not alright. He's in love with Himeno, and he loves her to death. Himeno shares the same feelings just as equally."

Hayate didn't answer. He had even just barely heard what Kei said. He was wondering what could have made Himeno keel over the way she did. He hadn't felt any presence when they got back to earth, when they walked out of the D.O.L.

Hayate decided to take a look around the outside of Himeno's house, where they had come out. Around the bushes he spotted a small microphone, like what they use in all the spy movies. The trail of the cord led to Andrea's house. She was watching him through her living room window.

When she saw him, she smiled and waved. She's trying to flirt with me, Hayate thought, Well I'm not buying it.

Hayate walked towards the window. Andrea walked up to him being extremely flirtatious.

"Hello Hayate. May I help you on this fine afternoon?" She batted her eyelashes.

Hayate felt an extreme amount of dark energy coming from her. The same dark energy that came from Takako when she was Fenril. It looked as though Andrea had gotten the power just by wanting to be better than Himeno and by pure jealousy. " Hayate, please prét with me, so that I can know what it's like"Sorry. Offer declined, bitch." He spat " What did you do to Himeno? Give her back her memory!" Hayate grabbed her by the neck of her shirt.

"I will give her back her memory, but only when I know the full power of the prétear." Andrea said calmly, even though she felt that Hayate was about to go on a wild emotional rampage.

"No. I won't sink that low. You need to figure out that you can't have everything your way and that you can't have everything you want, you spoiled brat." He said this calmly, and his face was harder than the hardest stone.

"Himeno will never get her memory back then." Andrea said. She said it in a teasing/Mocking sort of tone. Hayate was a good three feet away. He suddenly stopped. He was shaking fiercely, though she couldn't tell from what. Suddenly he turned around and grabbed her by the throat.

"Bitch! Give her back her memory! Right now! Give it back to her dammit!" His eyes were filled with tears that soon started streaming down his face. Andrea was trying to squirm out of his grip, but the harder she tried, the more he tightened.

"Hayate!" someone screamed. He felt Andrea being forced out of his hands. He tried to tighten his grip again.

"Hayate! Let her go! Stop it!" By now three or four people were trying to loosen his grip on Andrea. Andrea fell to the ground. She looked just like a scared puppy or rabbit, although she didn't bound or run away. She was gasping desperately for air.

Looking around Hayate saw Kei, Sasame, and Gou looking at him. Shin was crying up a storm. He'd never seen Hayate act like that before and it scared him quite a lot.

Hayate turned away shaking with anger at the fact that he couldn't murder Andrea. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been that angry.

"What was all that about, Hayate?" Sasame inquired. "Why did you do that?"

"Andrea got the power of the prétear, just like she wanted. And she wanted me to prét with her. I wouldn't do it and she said that she'd never give Himeno her memory back."

"Oh is that all? Hdayate don't you remember the first pretear we worked with? She, too, lost her memory, but gained it back within a couple of hours. Without anyone's help." Kei reminded him.

Hayate remained silent. He felt as though it was his fault Himeno was in this situation. He couldn't at all explain this, however.

Hayate suddenly felt the same aura that told him there was a demon larva nearby. But there was something wrong and strange about it. It was as though the demon larva was hollow. Almost not even there.

Hayate went to check it out, very cautiously. When he turned the corner, he saw something. It was the demon larva. It wasn't very big which meant it wasn't very strong. It was flopping around like some sort of deformed fish.

"I think Andrea is trying to kill us off, but this a pathetic attempt at death." Mannen said.

"Strong or not, we can't completely kill this thing without Himeno. We need to find her while some other distract this thing."

Mannen stepped forward. "I think that Hajime, Shin and I should stay here. We'd be harder to spot because we're smaller."

"Sorry guys. You aren't going anywhere." It was coming from the demon larva, which had turned into Andrea.

The knights were suddenly encaged. It had been a trick.


	8. Himeno Makes A Decision

For over an hour, Himeno had been sitting in her room just staring at her blank T.V. screen. She frowned as she tried to regain her memories, but nothing came up Except one memory of her kissing Hayate. "Why can't I remember anything except that? Did I fall in love with him? Or was it just an impulse because he loved me and wanted to show it?" She decided to find those guys she had seen earlier.

She started walking toward Andrea's house and something told her to check around the back. She went to Andrea's backyard and opened the gate.

When she stepped into the yard, she saw all seven of the guys in a cage that looked just barely big enough for them to stand in without much movement. She didn't know why but she felt a tremendous amount of energy coming from somewhere.

"Um…hi." she said. She felt a little shy around them. They all turned to look at her. "I need to get my memory back. I really want to remember. I want to remember everything." As she spoke tears started running down her face.

The knights all nodded. "Himeno," Hayate said "Take my hand." He held it out gently. Himeno, not sure about what would happen, hesitated.

"Come on." Hayate said "You need to trust me." Himeno grabbed his hand without a second thought. She closed her eyes as she felt the power rush through her body. When she opened them, she was the beautiful wind pretear.

By just preting, she remembered everything.

"Better?" he asked

"Yes." she responded "Much better. Why is everyone in that cage?"

"Believe it or not, Andrea trapped us there. She created a faux demon larva. She's also the one who is responsible for your amnesia."

"Why?"

"She tried to trick Hayate into preting with her. You need to be careful Himeno."

"We've gotta get you outta here." Himeno said. Desperately she started pulling on the bars. They didn't give, which surprised Himeno, since the bars looked as if they were made out of rubber."

"Oh, poo. I was expecting a little more than that Miss Awayuki." said a smug little voice.

"Andrea! I've really had enough of you! Why can't you leave me alone?"

Himeno now realized that she never missed being the pretear. She only missed being with the knights.

"I've got not choice. Hayate! We have to attack."

"Way ahead of you." he said

Himeno closed her eyes and mustered up her energy. "Wind Sword!" She screamed

She swung at Andrea. Andrea, not expecting the blow, got hit.

While she was on the ground, Himeno swung at the cage, which broke, letting everyone go free.

"Come on guys. Lets get out of here." They left Andrea, dazed on her porch. They went to Leafenia, near the place where Takako had been sealed.

"We've got to do something about Andrea. She is really getting on my nerves. No matter what, we have got to stop her. Even if it means…even if it means…"

"Even if it means what?" Hajime asked

Himeno bit her lip. She stayed quiet for a moment. "Even if it means giving up my power as the pretear."

"You can't do that, Himeno! You're the only one who can stop the Princess of Disaster." Mannen said.

"I know. But if I give up my powers as the pretear Andrea won't have a reason to hurt me because all of you will be here, in Leafenia. Although I really hate that option."

"Himeno," Hayate gently said "Look at me."

Himeno obliged. "You won't give up the power of the pretear. We just have to show Andrea that she can't have everything in the world that she wants."

Hayate took her hand and smiled. Himeno was crying Hayate gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

"Thank you, Hayate." Himeno looked happy, although worry was in her eyes and on her face.

"So…uh…how are we going to get rid of Andrea?" Hajime asked

"I don't know. We need to get her to let go of the power. Maybe I shouldn't pret for a while." Himeno said. "I'll give you my power so that you can kill demon larva, but for a while, I won't acknowledge them." Himeno also hated this idea, but it seemed to be the only option they had. After all, if Himeno couldn't pret, then Andrea had no reason to hurt her.

"I think that's a good idea. Andrea wouldn't hurt Himeno if she can't do anything to attack her." Kei said

Himeno nodded. The knights stood in a circle around her. Himeno acted like she was going to pret. First she touched Hayate's and Hajime's hand, which were joined together. After that she concentrated on giving each knight a little bit of her ability to kill the larva.

Little by little her power drained. She felt weaker and weaker. Finally when she had no more power left, she fell to the ground. She smiled.

"Are you alright Himeno?" Hayate asked.

"Yes Hayate. I'm fine, but I don't know if can stand. I feel so weak.

Hayate picked her up. "I'll take you home."

"Thank you Hayate." Himeno let her head fall against his shoulder. She was so weak and tired.

Hayate took her back home. He set her on her bed and just looked at her. When this was all over he'd be forced to live in Leafenia until it was time for a new pretear. Unless he wanted to live on earth. He decided not to worry about that until the time came.

He left Himeno to go talk to the other knights. He would miss Himeno preting, but it was the only way they felt she wouldn't be hurt or humiliated by Andrea.

"Is she going to be alright?" Shin asked.

"Yes. She'll be fine, with a little bit of rest. She might not be herself, though. She gave up a tremendous amount of power."

"I know." Kei said "I felt the power transferring from my hand to Gou's to Mannen's."

All of a sudden Sasame turned his head toward Himeno's house. "A DEMON LARVA IS ATTACKING HIMENO'S HOUSE!" He screamed.


	9. Confusion for Andrea

-1"You're joking!" Hayate screamed. All of the knights hurried over to Himeno's house. They transformed and went after the demon larva, which was specifically attacking Himeno's room.

"Why is it only attacking her room?" Sasame thought out loud. "Why isn't it trying to destroy the house?"

"I have no idea, but someone other than Shin needs to find the core. Shin you need to make a containment field." He flew off, leaving the Shin all alone to make the containment field.

"I see it!" Hajime shouted. "Water Flail!" Hajime hit the demon larva square in the core. It disappeared right away.

Andrea was watching the entire time and had seen the whole thing. She figured Himeno had preted with the boy who said 'Water Flail', but when they all transformed into their normal selves, Himeno didn't show up anywhere.

"Where is she, that little brat? Didn't she pret? And how come that boy was able to destroy my demon larva?"

She decided not to worry about it. She had to go to bed since they had school the next day.

The next morning, Himeno was ill. She didn't go to school, and the knights stayed with her while her dad worked.

Andrea was furious that Himeno hadn't shown up. She wanted to have a little chat. Since they had all of their classes together, Andrea decided to get Himeno's homework for her so that she wouldn't get left behind.

Himeno was herself that, except for the fact that she was still so weak, she could hardly move her head to sip her orange juice. She had to give the knights credit though. No matter what they stuck by her, and they all had very worried expressions on their faces as they tried to brighten her day.

"Are you all right, Himeno?" Shin asked. As weak as she was, she had allowed the three youngest to climb up on her bed so that she could read them a story.

"Yes. I'm alright." she said She cuddled him in her lap. "And thank you all for taking such good care of me." She said this as if she wasn't weak, but the truth was, she was feeling weaker than yesterday, if that was possible.

"Himeno? Andrea is on her way up to the door. What do you want us to do?"

"Uh…Just let her in. I want to see why she came."

A few moments later, they were face to face. The knights were standing right outside her door just in case she needed them. Who knew what Andrea was capable of now?

"Why didn't you come to school today?" She demanded. Her eyes seemed to be burning into Himeno, like they were trying to force her to tell the truth.

"I'm ill, Andrea. I can barely move." she whispered. All of her energy seemed to be draining away as Andrea was standing there. As if Andrea was the one draining her energy.

"Yeah right! You think I'm going to _believe _that? You're just faking so that you don't have to fight me in battle." Her eyes gleamed with a triumphant glare. "I challenge you to a pretear showdown. Fight to the death with no mercy. This weekend at 4 o' clock." she turned to look at Himeno, but she was asleep. Andrea was furious, but as she went to slap Himeno awake Hayate stepped in.

He was glaring at Andrea with a death stare. Andrea almost couldn't stand it. How could the person she was crushing on look at her so coldly? "I think you'd better go home now, Andrea." He said gently, never shifting his stare.

She walked off leaving Himeno's school books and homework on the dining room table.

"I'll get her. I know she's faking. It all depends on who wins the showdown, and I know It'll be me."

When Himeno had fallen asleep, she was thinking about her mother. Hayate walked into the room, sat down on the bed and stroked her face. He hoped with all his heart that he and Himeno could get married after it was all over and as soon as she was of age of consent.

He left the room thinking of how wonderful it would be. Gently he shut her door and was thinking of all the wonderful things Himeno had done. He was so very thankful that she had turned out to be the pretear.


	10. Showdown Between Andrea And Himeno

But, of course, Himeno needed to face reality. She needed to prepare herself for the battle with Andrea. It was going to be an all or nothing.

She got her power from the knights pronto. She was going to fight until the end, switching with knights as she needed to. The battle was only a day away. Unfortunately, it was the same day her dad decided to bond with her. 

"So Himeno, what would you like to do today? It's your day to do whatever you want, my little princess."

"Uh…that's great dad, but I really need to train with Hayate. You see this girl kind of challenged me to a fight-to-the-death battle, and I really need to be on top."

"No. That is the one thing we can't do. You and I are going to spend all day together if it kills us!" He pulled her to the car and dragged her off to the lake. "Now," he said when they got there, "we are going to fish for a while." he pulled out the fishing lines and the small cup that held the bait.

Himeno had no choice. All day she was forced to sit at the lake with her father. She was so angry that she wouldn't talk to him period. She didn't even answer his questions with a yes or a no.

Finally, as they decided to pack up, Andrea decided to appear. "Hello Himeno. Are you ready for our little showdown?"

"As ready as I'll ever be!" Himeno hoped with all her heart that the knights would appear. To her surprise, Andrea showed Himeno a picture of the knights. They were all chained against a stone wall. It looked like a dungeon from one of the old movies. They all looked sad, helpless.

Himeno looked at it for a moment. "No. It can't be. The knights would never be trapped or caught that easily. IT CAN'T HAPPEN!" she broke Andrea's concentration.

Andrea wouldn't admit it, but it had been a trick to get Himeno to forfeit the match for the safety of her friends.

Himeno stood tall. Andrea noticed that she wasn't exactly in her normal clothes. She was in a pink puffy dress. On her head was a small tiara and on her feet, small delicate pink boots. Her face had a much more serious look than Andrea had ever known.

"Fine, Andrea. You want a fight. I'll give you a fight." Her voice was gentle, but her face never sifted. She mustered up all of her energy. Calmly she put her fingers to her lips and fired a sonic arrow.

Andrea never suspected it. She was blown away by the arrow, but suddenly held her ground. She fired an attack, not knowing what it was. Instinctively, Himeno made a shield to protect herself. Andrea had a little trick up her sleeve, however.

Next Himeno used the ice cannon and fired a huge snowball at Andrea. Andrea, expecting something this time, also made a shield. She did this by summoning up Hayate and making him take the hit.

After Himeno realized what she'd done, she stopped attacking. She ran towards Hayate. She could tell that he was in pain. "Hayate! Are you all right? Hayate? Hayate, please answer me." She choked up with tears. "Hayate! Please, wake up! HAYATE!" At this Himeno started sobbing uncontrollably. Andrea towered over her.

"Well, I guess this is it for the great pretear. Goodbye Himeno. And I so looked forward to getting to know you." She held out her hand to deliver a blast that would kill Himeno, but Andrea took a second look at her. Himeno kissed Hayate gently on the lips, and with tears in her eyes, she said "You picked the wrong person to mess with, Andrea." She started to float above everything.

Himeno struck Andrea with a huge blast of leafe . Suddenly, Andrea seemed lighter than air. All of her jealousy, hurt, anger and power was being washed away by all the positive leafe.

When she looked up at Himeno again, her eyes seemed softer that Himeno had ever known. "I'm sorry, Himeno. I don't know what came over me. I guess I wanted to be so much like you, that I tried to take your power for myself."

"It's alright, Andrea. Don't blame yourself. My family was pretty jealous of me when I showed them who I really was. They understood why I never said anything and why I was never home all the time, but they still wanted to be able to pret and have some sort of power to save the world."

"Is it to late for us to be friends? I truly am sorry for the trouble I caused you." her eyes looked down in shame. She couldn't believe she'd acted like that. She was on the welcoming committee for new students and staff that came to the school.

"Sure it's possible." Himeno said. She was monitoring a conversation between Hayate and her father. Hayate was blushing and he looked extremely happy. So did her father.

"Uh…Himeno? May I ask you a question?" said Hayate when he got back.

"Of course Hayate. Whatever you want."

Hayate seemed extremely relieved. He bent down on one knee. Himeno's heart started to pound in her chest. It couldn't be _the _question-could it? "Himeno, we've known each other for a while now and I know that we both have developed feelings for one another, so would you-I mean…will you- w-will you marry me?" He held out a gorgeous ring. It had a small diamond in the middle of a heart.

"Oh Hayate. I-I don't know what to say other than…other than yes. I will marry you. As long as it's alright with my father." she turned to look at him.

"It's alright with me. That's what Hayate and I were discussing over there. When we were away from you."

Himeno was bursting with happiness. She was going to get married to the person that she loved most in the world besides her father and friends. And that's what happened a month later. Himeno and Hayate were officially married. They agreed not to have kids until Himeno was at least of age. If she wanted to go to college, then they would wait until after she finished to have kids.

Overall, Himeno and Hayate lived a good life together and with their friends. Himeno eventually graduated High School and decided to go to college. Himeno and Andrea wound up the best of friends. It was all good for everyone.

The End

That's it everyone…plz review. I think It'll be a while before I write another. I hope you enjoyed this and I hope it kept you on the edge of your seat. Ta-ta


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